Def Leppard

Surprisingly, up until now you’ve not been able to get the entire Def Leppard back catalogue legally through the download / stream route. After some lawyers argued back and forth for a bit, those who like Sheffield’s biggest rock export with a misspelled reference to a cat in their name can satisfy their music urges through the likes of Google Play, Soundcloud, Spotify, Deezer and that Apple thing that some people use.

In addition, they’ve announced a tour in December where they’ll be playing their hugely successful Hysteria album in full. 2018 also marke the 35th anniversary of Pyromania, an album some would class as superior to its more successful follow-up. Dates are:

Sat 1st December 2018 Dublin, 3 Arena EIRE

Sun 2nd December Belfast, The SSE Arena UK

Tues 4th December Cardiff, Motorpoint Arena UK

Thurs 6th December London, The O2 UK

Sat 8th December Nottingham, Motorpoint Arena UK

Sun 9th December Newcastle, Metro Radio Arena UK

Tues 11th December Glasgow, The SSE Hydro Arena UK

Wed 12th December Manchester, Manchester Arena UK

Fri 14th December Sheffield, FlyDSA Arena UK

Sat 15th December Liverpool, Echo Arena UK

Mon 17th December Birmingham, Arena Birmingham UK

Cheap Trick open on all dates. Tickets on sale from January 26th.

Paradise Lost

It’s a month for news of re-issues. Kreator are putting out a collection from their back-catalogue, and Testament are doing something similar (see below). Halifax doom legends Paradise Lost will themselves be releasing a remastered version of their seventh album, Host, on March 16th. As well as the usual formats, you’ll be able to get it on vinyl for the first time ever.

Originally released in 1999, Host earned Paradise Lost their reputation as West Yorkshire’s musical chameleon, as it saw the band moving further away from their previous death metal roots to a melancholic and catchier electropop sound. Singer Nick Holmes comments:

With the Host album we wanted to take the One Second concept further and make a very dark album with even more subtlety. It was a bold leap from all our previous albums, a leap too far some would say, but for me, the new remastered version really shows it’s still one of the band’s strongest albums in terms of songwriting, atmosphere and sheer misery.

The album will be available as digipak and in three different vinyl colours (black, clear and mint) for the first time ever. Pre-orders have started.

They’re also on the road soon with dates coming next month:

15.02. UK Colchester – Arts Centre

16.02. UK Portsmouth – Wedgewood Rooms

17.02. UK Bristol – Thekla

18.02. UK Nottingham – Rescue Rooms

20.02. UK Belfast – Limelight 2

21.02. IRL Dublin – Tivoli

22.02. UK Glasgow – Classic Grand

23.02. UK Manchester – Gorilla

Testament

As mentioned above, Testament are going re-issue mad as well soon, with five titles seeing the light of day for a second time. January 26th sees the following albums back on shop shelves:

Live At The Fillmore (1995)

Demonic (1997)

The Gathering (1999)

First Strike Still Deadly (2001)

Live At Eindhoven ’87 (2009)

All albums are unchanged from their original releases, with the exception of The Gathering which has been given a remastering by Andy Sneap. You can check the band out live as they also are on the road soon, with UK dates in March accompanied by Annihilator and Vader:

29.3.2018 UK – Bristol, Motion

30.3.2018 UK – Manchester, O2 Ritz

31.3.2018 UK – Birmingham, O2 Institute

1.4.2018 IE – Dublin, Vicar Street

2.4.2018 UK – Glasgow, QMU

4.4.2018 UK – London, Koko

Old Sparky

Rounding off with a band you may not have heard of, buy maybe you should have. French death/thrash metal band Old Sparky have released their debut self-titled EP. The release was recorded, mixed and mastered at Hybreed Studios by Andrew Guillotin.

Old Sparky was formed in 2016 at Paris, France by Charles Smith (bass) and Florent Marie (guitar/vocals) who wanted to play thrash metal with death metal influences. Later that year Thin Lazy (guitar) and Jake Dyn (drums) joined the band and the lineup was complete.